You can’t judge a convention by its size. I had the audacity to believe, even for just a moment, that I was superior to small conventions just because I had more than 10 years of experience attending, and 6 years of experience reporting for, bigger conventions. I was going to be proven very wrong.

This was my first convention where I ever had down-time. Typically, the minute I receive the schedule, I cover it in highlighter marks for all the panels I intend to attend — often multiple during the same block of time. Then, it’s a race to see how I can possibly be in three places at once, or a competition to see which panel is the most important for me to attend.

At AnimeNEXT we conducted a round-table style interview which included Dani from all-fiction.net, Melissa from jrockrevolution.com, and me (Tempest) asking questions of three of the members of Rookiez is Punk’d: 2Rash, Shinnosuke and U. Takumi chose to stay out of the limelight and took pictures instead.

Warning: the following contains all the spoilers for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. If you haven’t finished the series, what are you waiting for? It isn’t long. You can view it for free, legally, on Crunchyroll. Do it.

Cosplayers set new goals after each convention, sometimes seven times in a year. The greatest challenge: actually getting the costume to a convention in one piece.

Busting out my new PS3 with its bundled games to ring in the new year, I had certain expectations. I expected that Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 would be dull compared to the books, that Little Big Planet Karting would make a fantastic new coaster and that Lego Batman 2 would be everything I hate about Batman: the Brave and the Bold, with easy controls and utter mindlessness.

I explained in the last Anime In-Jokes that Christmas is a time for couples to celebrate in Japan. Lovers trade gifts and gather around the traditional bucket of KFC to enjoy this romantic holiday.

Tempest had the pleasure of interviewing Paul St. Peter during AnimeUSA. Some of you may remember him from your childhood as the voices of Wormmon and Leomon. Some more experienced otaku know him as Zor Prime from Robotech. Others of you know him as Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts and Nine-Tail Fox from Naruto.

In response to the recent release of Pokemon Black/White 2, PETA released its own anti-Pokemon game: Pokemon Black and Blue. The trouble is, it’s incredibly fun to play.

A truly unusual person has been getting a lot of newsworthy attention lately. Anastasiya Shpagina, known as the “anime girl,” has twined the threshold between reality and fantasy in a beautiful and unsettling way. Using makeup, she crafts her face to look like her beloved anime characters.